Functions of Mosque

Mosque in Islam has both temporal and spiritual functions none of which should be taken for granted. The word Mosque is the corrupt English pronunciation of ‘MASJID’ (pronounced ‘Masgid’ in Egyptian dialect) which means a place of prostration.

In Islam, mosque is not meant for SALAT alone. It serves many other purposes each of which has a fundamental significance. For instance the very first mosque established by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Medina was a multipurpose one. That mosque named the ‘Mosque of Qubah’ did not serve as a place of worship alone, it also served as a school, a library, a clinic, a court and even a parliament for the Muslim community. And, ever since, the Mosque has continued to serve all those purposes throughout the Islamic world.

That was why the very first University ever established in the world, the University of Cordoba in Spain , started as a Mosque. And, it will be recalled that even the three oldest Universities in the world today: Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia all started as Mosques.

Using the above yardstick to judge what the Mosque is in our society as against what it ought to be, one will sincerely conclude that our Mosques are grossly underutilized.

Hardly can we find in our society today, a Mosque that is used as a court, a library, a parliament and a hospital. Whereas Islam is a dynamic religion and the Mosque is supposed to be a symbol of that dynamism, this is rarely considered when it comes to establishing Mosques in our society.

Today, we need Mosques in our societies more than ever before. We need Mosques for training and good orientation for our children. In fact, we need Mosques as a backup for homes in reforming our society.

That is why we must provide in every Mosque those amenities mentioned above if only to give our children the best education they deserve, as our own little way of making our society a worthy place to live in.

In our Mosques, we need Computer training Centres; tutorial classes for our Imams and Muadhdhins as well as to coach our secondary school boys and girls; good libraries for reading and research; modest clinics as well as arbitration courts where civil and matrimonial conflicts can be settled without any recourse to the Western Courts where Qur’an and Sunnah play no role in adjudication.

For Islam to continue to play its dynamic role as originally designed, enabling environments must be created for our Mosques so that so that Muslims can occupy befitting positions in the society.